Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Perspective.

Hillsborough

I hadn't realised it will be 20 years ago tomorrow. I was 14.

Between that and Bradford (which I saw live on Grandstand at Bodham Post Office where I was with Robert-over-the-Road my early football years had the games themselves as fascinating, amazing, and deadly. It was the 80's early 90's. A time of horrendous football violence, of thuggery and hooliganism. Of skinheads and anger and unrelenting hatred of differentness.

But it does put things into perspective.

I am proud of the way I followed my team for the years I could, stopping when I was 3 weeks from giving birth. And after that, I had different priorities.

The He-Ex was a hooligan, and very pleased with the fact. It's one of the many reasons we weren't suited, although at least we have the glorious AC.

But there. Anyway, it's nearly bedtime. I'm waiting to see if I'll hear from R tonight, I should be able to. The She-Ex rang earlier, and obviously got the point of this mornings email, as she was the polite, well mannered person I used to know. I got to speak to the BG as well, who wasn't sure if she had had her telegram or not. Nor if she'd seen AC's video that he so badly wanted her to see, although her mother insisted that she had. But she'd had cupcakes, so that was cool!

NIght night all. Hillsborough, BRadford, they put things in perspective for me. What does the silliness matter when faced with that?

Lunch date tomorrow!

That's right!

I am going out for lunch! And it's not with my mum!

Interestingly enough, it's with an old friend of mine, Chris, who I haven't seen since before the AC arrived. He's going to be driving down this way, so we are going to go for lunch, catch up together and so on. Should be lots of fun. He and I had no secrets in the past. In fact, I've known him since I was 14. That's 20 years. Golly.

It was weird tonight though, because I didn't want to say yes until I'd spoken to R about it. There's no reason for me to need to speak to him about it, other than plain and simple good manners. I didn't need to ask his permission lol, I just wanted him to know before it happened.

I think a lot of that has to do with the trust issues that we have because of our pasts. It's not that we don't trust the other one, it's that we are used to not being trusted, and there being no reason for that distrust other than the other persons conscience. It's all good though. We have a good relationship now, and we trust each other totally, and I am going out for lunch with Chris! YAY!

I'm not doing a fat lot tonight though. Just sitting here. I know I need to be doing things, but I'm not lol. I'm just here. I'm so tired after last night. I know I'm planning on going to bed early, but I'll wait until I've heard from R. Hopefully he'll hear from BG today, on her birthday.

She is 7 today. It is the third birthday since she left. Soon it will be the third fathers day, the third summer, it's already been the third Christmas. Finally, it will be the third of his birthdays since she left. And then a few days later will be the start of the 4th year.

It's the way it is.

But the world is a different and better place. Oh yes it is.

I'll post more later. I need a cup of tea!

More goodness....

....

*warning* Geek alert!
.....

We use Activprimary at school, and I've just discovered on Primary3 how to combine flipcharts. How to just select the actual part of the actual flipchart I want, and place that into another flipchart.

This means I can write a flipchart to follow through what I want to teach, and then add in the bits I want to my daily flipchart.

I said it was geeky.

HOWEVER!

On the anti-geek side of things, I have this completed. Well, aside from the sewing in of the ends, but you get the idea. I was just experimenting with squares and triangles and how they fit together.



And then I went out today and bough this material,

Which was a whole £6. Slightly over my budget lol, but there is lots!

Eventually it should look like this (but in lilacs, not pink and blue)



A truely gorgeous quilt for a baby!

But work first. Bah humbug

Wooooo!

It is officially now a good day.

1) Child has recovered, is in bombastic health and can have a lovvely day with his father after all! Daddy/son time is very important between our two households, so we were both relieved when he could go.

2) The new shock absorbers for the car have been delivered. Already.

3) The Student Loans Compant have phoned to say that there is a "clear and concise" not on my account that says that I phoned to ask for a settlement figure, and they gave me one, and I paid it, and checked that we were done. So lovely SLC lady says "We are done, We're not going to chase you for something which is our error, so you don't need to pay this, and I'll get a letter out to you confirming it asap."

Now I'm going to town to buy material and treat myself to a cup of tea somewhere. Well. Material definately.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like this.

What Teachers Make, or
Objection Overruled, or
If things don’t work out, you can always go to law school

By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about
teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite company.

“I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor,” he says.
“Be honest. What do you make?”

And I wish he hadn’t done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you get a drink of water?
Because you’re not thirsty, you’re bored, that’s why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

I was right!

It was a long night.

We've been down for steam twice, He is shattered, I am shattered, R is feeling bad for being away, but I've told him not to worry, I am fine on my own with the AC through this, just like I have been so many times before. I am going to insist that he sees the chest clinic though, because this coughing is ridiculous again, and has degenerated more quickly than previously. I can handle it, he is just about handling it, but I'm not a nurse or doctor, so I think we should call in someone who is lol!

And yeah, lol!

I can laugh about it all if I want to, because the other option is to sit and bemoan my fate, and where will that get the AC? Nowhere. He's quieter now, just the occasional bark, so the steam has worked.

And now, a conundrum.

The She-Ex has friends who apparently read the blog to her, thus her getting round the fact that she has said she never reads it.

*IF* you are those friends, pack it in! Stop doing it! You're upsetting her! It doesn't bother me - I stand by every word I've ever said about her, and as 90% are nice and 10% were said in the heat of battle, I don't mind. Most of the time I don't think about her, talk about her, she's not even in our everyday lives, other than the fact that she is BG's mother, and therefore our route to any conversation with BG. I've emailed her in reply to her vitriolic diatribe this morning to try and calm her down before she goes to bed, but I don't know that it will help. However, no one from *this* side of the Pond is attacking her right now, so that should help as well.

I choose not to discuss BG on here, other than to say I miss her, R misses her, we didn't get a phonecall last night, or we did get a phonecall last night, or whatever, because there is nothing to discuss. Currently, there is a report card to discuss, but I'm not doing it on here, because it would achieve nothing. R and the She-Ex will discuss it I expect. I am sad because I *could* help her, but I can't from here. It's my job. It's something I do really really well.

Never mind.

Just, if you are her friends, then *really* be her friend, and don't do this to her? And if you aren't her friend, and you're only doing this to upset her, then don't make stuff up
/ leave things out and add your own commentary.

Perhaps I should just move from here. I shall think on it. But I won't be bullied out of my own blogspace by those who are economical with the truth and facts.

I have other things to do with my life!

Today I need to go to town, sort out the Family Allowance so it's in the right places, treat myself to some material (could be spending up to £4.50 here!) and then get back here and do some work on planning and so on for the term ahead. And see if I want to install activinspire everywhere. And clean the hamster out. And make bread. And hoover. And mark books. And and and and and

Where do I get time to teach lol?

Ah well. We'll see what the day brings.